Ian Ritchie (architect)
Encyclopedia
Professor Ian Ritchie CBE is a British architect. He was born in 1947 in Sussex.
After working with Norman Foster (1972–76), Ritchie spent two years in France designing and constructing projects. In 1979 he founded Chrysalis Architects and also worked at Arup’s Lightweight Structures Group in London. In 1981 he created Ian Ritchie Architects
in London, and co-founded the design engineering firm Rice Francis Ritchie (RFR
) with Peter Rice and Martin Francis in Paris. Before leaving RFR in 1989, this practice had been responsible for major projects in Paris including the Bioclimatic Façades at la Villette Cité des Sciences, and the Louvre Pyramids and Sculpture Courts with I M Pei. Building Design
have described him as "an architect prepared to break with convention."
UK: Wood Lane Station
, London; Royal Shakespeare Company Courtyard Theatre
, Stratford Upon Avon; Plymouth Theatre Royal Production Centre (TR2)
, Plymouth; International Regatta Centre
, London Jubilee Line Extension
, Bermondsey Station
, London
France: Electricité de France High Voltage Pylons; Terrasson Cultural Greenhouse, Dordogne; Albert Cultural and Sports Centre, Somme
Spain: Reina Sofia Museum of Modern Art
, Madrid
Germany: Leipzig International Exhibition Centre Glass Hall
Ireland: The Spire
, Dublin
In 2000, as founding CABE
commissioner, Ian Ritchie established and chaired a Housing Industry Research Group which included Peabody, Guinness, Rowntree, Nationwide, Popular Housing Forum, FPD Savills, Arup, DETR, Bellway, Westbury, Chelsfield and London Residential Research.
In 2000, Ian Ritchie, while a CABE Commissioner, initiated a cross-cultural exchange between CABE and La Direction de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine (DAPA) to explore how differences in design, financing, procurement and manufacture of social housing could be used to benefit both the UK and French supply. A protocol was signed between the two agencies and in autumn 2002, a social housing Design, R&D and Construction programme of projects to be constructed in Paris and Sénart, London and the South East Region was officially launched. The first constructed project is at Whitecity, London, designed by Cartwright Pickard (London) and BCD Architectes (Paris).
From 1997 to 2003, Ian Ritchie was president of Europan
UK (a pan European urban and social housing biennial design competition for young architects). Since 2004 this organisation has been managed by CABE.
Ian Ritchie has spoken at National and International conferences on current UK mechanisms to improve the quality of our built environment.
Ian Ritchie was CABE’s first Emeritus Commissioner representing CABE
at international seminars and conferences.
Ian Ritchie also chaired the launch of the first major global book on sustainability, Seymour, Girardet and Penney’s Blueprint for A Green Planet, at The Ecology Centre, London, 1987.
He has been lobbying since 1987 in Europe (ECTP), and UK Government, English Heritage, and advising volume house Builders (Wimpey and Berkeley Homes).
Ian Ritchie has given many international keynote lectures since the mid-90s on a wide range of topics, regularly encompassing an environmentally intelligent and ethical approach to design in Europe, USA and China.
He sat on Cambridge University’s Advisory Committee for the postgraduate IDBE Masters course in Interdisciplinary Design in the Built Environment(2001-2004).
He has been a member of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Built Environment Panel since 2001 which selects and grants two-year research fellowships on current urban issues; and the Design Fellowship Panel established in 2006.
He has represented The Architects’ Council of Europeon the European Construction Technology Platform High Level Group setting the 2025 agenda for Built Environment R&D.
Ian Ritchie has been visiting Professor of Architecture to Moscow State University
, Technical University Vienna and taught at the Architectural Association. He has been external examiner for Oxford Brookes University
and is currently Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Liverpool
.
Ian Ritchie has also designed exhibitions for the Hayward Gallery
and the Royal Academy of Arts and conceived an exhibition for Gasometer GmbH.
The practice’s work has been exhibted extensively. UK venues include: Hayward Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts, Tate Gallery; and internationally: Tokyo, New York, Moscow, Germany, Paris Biennale, Venice Biennale.
Ritchie’s personal art work is in public collections at the Royal Academy of Arts, National Museum Centro de Arte Reina Sofía; MAG Lodz and private collections.
.
Ian Ritchie is frequently asked to chair national and international juries, including the French Government ‘Nouveaux Jeunes Albums’ (2004), France, the RIBA Stirling Awards (2006), and the RIAS Doolan Awards (2009).
Ian Ritchie Architects have won more than 50 national and international awards. These include the Iritecna Prize for Europe (1991); Eric Lyons European Housing Award (1991); Commonwealth Association of Architects Award for Innovation and the Advancement of Contemporary Architecture (1994); Millennium Product Awards (2 in 1999); many RIBA Awards, and shortlisted four times for the RIBA Stirling Prize
, and for the European Mies Van Der Rohe Architecture Award (2005).
Personal awards include:
CBE (2000); French Académie d’Architecture Silver Medal for Innovation which has significantly influenced architectural expression (2000), becoming the first foreign architect to join a small but illustrious list including Jean Prouvé, Felix Candela, Frei Otto, Buckminster Fuller and Peter Rice; Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Westminster (2000). In 2010 Ritchie was awarded Honorary Fellowship of the American Institute of Architects.
After working with Norman Foster (1972–76), Ritchie spent two years in France designing and constructing projects. In 1979 he founded Chrysalis Architects and also worked at Arup’s Lightweight Structures Group in London. In 1981 he created Ian Ritchie Architects
Ian Ritchie Architects
Ian Ritchie Architects Ltd is a leading British architectural practice, founded in London in 1981 by Ian Ritchie. Ritchie also co-founded the engineering firm Rice Francis Ritchie with Peter Rice and Martin Francis in Paris in 1981.-Recognition:...
in London, and co-founded the design engineering firm Rice Francis Ritchie (RFR
RFR Engineers
RFR was founded in Paris in 1981 as Rice Francis Ritchie sarl, by Peter Rice , Martin Francis and Ian Ritchie...
) with Peter Rice and Martin Francis in Paris. Before leaving RFR in 1989, this practice had been responsible for major projects in Paris including the Bioclimatic Façades at la Villette Cité des Sciences, and the Louvre Pyramids and Sculpture Courts with I M Pei. Building Design
Building Design
Building Design is one of the leading architectural magazines in the United Kingdom.According to ABC , the magazine's circulation for the year ending June 2008 was 22,848. The publishing company is UBM Built Environment, a division of United Business Media, which also publishes Building and...
have described him as "an architect prepared to break with convention."
Projects
His practices have helped realise many internationally renowned buildings including:UK: Wood Lane Station
Wood Lane tube station
Wood Lane is a London Underground station, located in the White City area of west London, England, UK. It is on the Circle and Hammersmith & City Lines, between Latimer Road and Shepherd's Bush Market stations. The station lies in Travelcard Zone 2....
, London; Royal Shakespeare Company Courtyard Theatre
Courtyard Theatre
The Courtyard Theatre is a temporary 1,048 seat thrust stage theatre building in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Designed by Ian Ritchie Architects and built in 11 months, it opened in August 2006 to host performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company while its Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres...
, Stratford Upon Avon; Plymouth Theatre Royal Production Centre (TR2)
Theatre Royal, Plymouth
The Theatre Royal in Plymouth, Devon, England is "the largest and best attended regional producing theatre in the UK and the leading promoter of theatre in the south west", according to Arts Council England...
, Plymouth; International Regatta Centre
London Regatta Centre
The London Regatta Centre, a state-of-the-art rowing centre, is located in the heart of the Docklands area in the East End of London. It is built at the west end on the north of the historic Royal Albert Dock directly opposite London City Airport...
, London Jubilee Line Extension
Jubilee Line Extension
The Jubilee Line Extension is the extension of the London Underground Jubilee line from to through south and east London. An eastward extension of the Jubilee line was first proposed in the 1970s and a modified route was constructed during the 1990s...
, Bermondsey Station
Bermondsey tube station
Bermondsey tube station is a London Underground station. It is situated in the eastern part of Bermondsey in the London Borough of Southwark, and so also serves the western part of Rotherhithe....
, London
France: Electricité de France High Voltage Pylons; Terrasson Cultural Greenhouse, Dordogne; Albert Cultural and Sports Centre, Somme
Spain: Reina Sofia Museum of Modern Art
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is the official name of Spain's national museum of 20th century art . The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992 and is named for Queen Sofia of Spain...
, Madrid
Germany: Leipzig International Exhibition Centre Glass Hall
Leipzig Trade Fair
The Leipzig Trade Fair was a major fair for trade across Central Europe for nearly a millennium. After the Second World War, its location happened to lie within the borders of East Germany, whereupon it became one of the most important trade fairs of Comecon and was traditionally a meeting place...
Ireland: The Spire
Spire of Dublin
The Spire of Dublin, officially titled the Monument of Light is a large, stainless steel, pin-like monument in height, located on the site of the former Nelson's Pillar on O'Connell Street in Dublin, Ireland.-Details:...
, Dublin
Raising design quality in social housing and international design exchange
In 1999, Ian Ritchie Architects designed and realised with Scottish Homes and Thenew Housing Association innovative social housing in Glasgow’s East End. The project was monitored by Scottish Homes for the first three years of occupation.In 2000, as founding CABE
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment was an executive non-departmental public body of the UK government, established in 1999. It was funded by both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Communities and Local Government.-Function:CABE was the...
commissioner, Ian Ritchie established and chaired a Housing Industry Research Group which included Peabody, Guinness, Rowntree, Nationwide, Popular Housing Forum, FPD Savills, Arup, DETR, Bellway, Westbury, Chelsfield and London Residential Research.
In 2000, Ian Ritchie, while a CABE Commissioner, initiated a cross-cultural exchange between CABE and La Direction de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine (DAPA) to explore how differences in design, financing, procurement and manufacture of social housing could be used to benefit both the UK and French supply. A protocol was signed between the two agencies and in autumn 2002, a social housing Design, R&D and Construction programme of projects to be constructed in Paris and Sénart, London and the South East Region was officially launched. The first constructed project is at Whitecity, London, designed by Cartwright Pickard (London) and BCD Architectes (Paris).
From 1997 to 2003, Ian Ritchie was president of Europan
Europan
Europan is a biennial competition for young architects under 40 years of age to design innovative housing schemes for sites across Europe. The competition encourages architects to address social and economic changes occurring in towns and cities and offers the opportunity for cross-cultural...
UK (a pan European urban and social housing biennial design competition for young architects). Since 2004 this organisation has been managed by CABE.
Raising government awareness that architecture is a cultural product
Working as Architectural Advisor to the Lord Chancellor (1999–2004), Ian Ritchie had a central role in helping to formulate procurement and design quality policy within the Lord Chancellor’s Department for all new court buildings. This includes Magistrate, County, Crown and new Civil Justice Centres, including the award winning Manchester CJC. Supported by the Lord Chancellor, the policy aim was to establish the Lord Chancellor’s Department as an exemplar of design standards that other Ministries would recognise and emulate.Ian Ritchie has spoken at National and International conferences on current UK mechanisms to improve the quality of our built environment.
Ian Ritchie was CABE’s first Emeritus Commissioner representing CABE
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment was an executive non-departmental public body of the UK government, established in 1999. It was funded by both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Communities and Local Government.-Function:CABE was the...
at international seminars and conferences.
Environmentally intelligent design
Well before sustainability was on any government agenda, Ian Ritchie was lecturing on the subject using his own projects as exemplars, beginning with low-cost, self–construct, passive and active solar energy housing (Fluy 1976, Eagle Rock house 1981)and a designed zero-energy cultural greenhouse (theatre/exhibition space), France 1993.Ian Ritchie also chaired the launch of the first major global book on sustainability, Seymour, Girardet and Penney’s Blueprint for A Green Planet, at The Ecology Centre, London, 1987.
He has been lobbying since 1987 in Europe (ECTP), and UK Government, English Heritage, and advising volume house Builders (Wimpey and Berkeley Homes).
Ian Ritchie has given many international keynote lectures since the mid-90s on a wide range of topics, regularly encompassing an environmentally intelligent and ethical approach to design in Europe, USA and China.
Exhibitions and teaching
Ian Ritchie was Special Professor at Leeds University School of Civil Engineering (2001–2004) where he taught on the 4 year Masters Civil Engineering with Architecture course. An ambition was to have the course recognised by the RIBA as well as the Institution of Civil Engineers and The Institution of Structural Engineers.He sat on Cambridge University’s Advisory Committee for the postgraduate IDBE Masters course in Interdisciplinary Design in the Built Environment(2001-2004).
He has been a member of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Built Environment Panel since 2001 which selects and grants two-year research fellowships on current urban issues; and the Design Fellowship Panel established in 2006.
He has represented The Architects’ Council of Europeon the European Construction Technology Platform High Level Group setting the 2025 agenda for Built Environment R&D.
Ian Ritchie has been visiting Professor of Architecture to Moscow State University
Moscow State University
Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...
, Technical University Vienna and taught at the Architectural Association. He has been external examiner for Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University is a new university in Oxford, England. It was named to honour the school's founding principal, John Brookes. It has been ranked as the best new university by the Sunday Times University Guide 10 years in a row...
and is currently Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Liverpool
University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool is a teaching and research university in the city of Liverpool, England. It is a member of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities and the N8 Group for research collaboration. Founded in 1881 , it is also one of the six original "red brick" civic...
.
Ian Ritchie has also designed exhibitions for the Hayward Gallery
Hayward Gallery
The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre, part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames, in central London, England. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings and also the Royal National Theatre and British Film Institute...
and the Royal Academy of Arts and conceived an exhibition for Gasometer GmbH.
The practice’s work has been exhibted extensively. UK venues include: Hayward Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts, Tate Gallery; and internationally: Tokyo, New York, Moscow, Germany, Paris Biennale, Venice Biennale.
Ritchie’s personal art work is in public collections at the Royal Academy of Arts, National Museum Centro de Arte Reina Sofía; MAG Lodz and private collections.
Current appointments
Professor of Architecture, Royal Academy of Arts; Chairman, Royal Academy of Arts Collections & Library Committee; Governor, Royal Shakespeare Company; Emeritus Commissioner, CABE – the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment; Advisor to The Ove Arup Foundation; Advisor to the President of Columbia UniversityColumbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
Ian Ritchie is frequently asked to chair national and international juries, including the French Government ‘Nouveaux Jeunes Albums’ (2004), France, the RIBA Stirling Awards (2006), and the RIAS Doolan Awards (2009).
Awards
International and national architectural awards:Ian Ritchie Architects have won more than 50 national and international awards. These include the Iritecna Prize for Europe (1991); Eric Lyons European Housing Award (1991); Commonwealth Association of Architects Award for Innovation and the Advancement of Contemporary Architecture (1994); Millennium Product Awards (2 in 1999); many RIBA Awards, and shortlisted four times for the RIBA Stirling Prize
Stirling Prize
The Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize is a British prize for excellence in architecture. It is named after the architect James Stirling, organised and awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects...
, and for the European Mies Van Der Rohe Architecture Award (2005).
Personal awards include:
CBE (2000); French Académie d’Architecture Silver Medal for Innovation which has significantly influenced architectural expression (2000), becoming the first foreign architect to join a small but illustrious list including Jean Prouvé, Felix Candela, Frei Otto, Buckminster Fuller and Peter Rice; Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Westminster (2000). In 2010 Ritchie was awarded Honorary Fellowship of the American Institute of Architects.
Lectures and Publications
He lectures internationally on art, urbanism, regeneration, light, structures, glass technology and innovation. Prestigious venues include The Pompidou Centre, Tate Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Society of Arts, RIBA, New York Architecture Centre, ICA, Hayward Gallery, European Commission and on behalf of the British Council, CABE, the Lord Chancellor, and the British Association of Science.Further reading
Publications include:(well) Connected Architecture, Ian Ritchie, Berlin/London 1994; The biggest glass palace in the world, Ian Ritchie & Ingerid Helsing Almaas, New York 1997; Alessandro Rocca: Ian Ritchie, Technoecologia, Milano 1998; Plymouth Theatre Royal Production Centre, London 2003; The Spire, London 2004; The RSC Courtyard Theatre, London 2006; The Leipzig Book of Drawings, RA, London 2007.External links
- Ian Ritchie Architects Official website
- Royal Academy Profile
- Debrett's Distinguished People of Today 1988-